Strop-dressing



UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

LAURENCE G. WESSON, OE CLEVELAND, AND ZAY J EFFRIES, OF EAST CLEVELAND,OHIO STROIP-DRESSING.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LAURENCE GnWVES- SON, residing in Cleveland, in thecounty of Cuyahoga, in the State of ()hio, at 1719 East- 116th Place,and ZAY JErrnIEs, residing in East Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga,in the State of Ohio. at 328 Carlyon road, both citizens of the UnitedStates, have invented a new and useful Strep-Dressing.

The invention relates to a composition including as a constituent anabrasive substance adapted to render a strop or other suitable surface,to which it is applied, an effective sharpening agent for razors,surgical instruments, and the like.

The general objects of our invention are: (1) to provide a stop dressingwith an abrasive adapted to give an extremely fine cutting edge to therazor or instrument to be sharpened; (2) to provide a dressing in whichthe vehicle for the abrasive substance is of such a nature that thedressing can readily be applied to a strop and readily renewed from timeto time so that the strop can easily be kept in an effective condition;and to provide a dressing for razor strops' which will not injure eitherthe strop or the steel of the razor and which will be harmless ifinadvertently taken ;into the mouth or applied to the skin.

- Our invention has other objects but they are largely ancillary to theforegoing and will be made clear in the following description settingforth in detail the preferred constituent materials for the composition,the preferred method of combining the said materials and the preferredmanner of using the dressing.

From our experience with various materials, we have found than anabrasive in the form of superfine levigated alumina is especiallyadapted to our purposes and we use it in carrying out our invention. Thelevigated alumina available on the market can be used with a fair degreeof satisfaction. It is not of uniform fineness, however, and if it ispermitted to settle in water, or other suitable liquid, the coarserparticles will sink to the bottom first, the rate of settling beingproportional to the size of the particles. That portion of the powderwhich settles out during the first six or eight hours, say, is,relatively coarse, While Specification of Letters Patent.

, Application filed December 1, 1916.

Patented Jan. 13, 1920.

Serial No. 134,380.

that which remains in suspension after more prolonged sedimentation, saytwenty-four hours, is found to be exceedingly fine. Thus by subjectingthe commercial levigated alumina to such prolong-ed sedimentation andseparating the material which remains in suspension, we secure asuperfine product which is peculiarly adapted to the carrying out of ourinvention both because it is 'well suited for the production of anextremely fine cutting edge and also because it is adapted for theproduction of a relatively permanentemulsion when combined withmaterials which we employ as a vehicle for it.

In order that the dressing may readily be applied and renewed on thestrop, we utilize a vehicle for the abrasive which is readily soluble inwater and we have found that a suitable mixture of soap and water ismost effective for this purpose. \Ve preferably use soap in powderedform.

e also prefer to provide a'vehicle for the abrasive that is eitherinherently antiseptic or capable of being rendered so, and this isreadily accomplished with the soap and water vehicle by the addition ofa suitable amount of an antiseptic in liquid form such as phenol orthymol.

In the preparation of the dressing the preferable procedure is asfollows. The powdered soap and the levigated alumina, are firstintimately mixed in the desired proportions. Then successive portions ofwater are added until the desired consistency is secured, the wholebeing vigorously mixed as the water is added. The antiseptic, when used,may conveniently be added to the Water and is then distributed by themixing operation. If desired, an agreeable odor may be imparted to thedressing by the addition of any substance suitable for the purpose.

In so far as some aspects of our invention are concerned the essentialconstituents may be used in any roportions which will give a dressingcapable of use for the purposes in question; but in order to secure adressing that can be conveniently packed for distribution and use andthat can conveniently, easily and quickly be applied to a strop, wegreatly prefer to combine the constituents in proportions such that theproduct has the consistency of a cream or paste.

This end is more or less fully attained if the proportions by weight ofthe several esedge, but a razor which is in fairl sential constituentsare kept within the following limits Levigated alumina 30% to 50%,Powdered soap 10% to 25%, Water 30% to the abrasive has a tendency tosettle and thus destroy the uniform consistency and character of thepaste. In practice we prefer the following proportions by weight:

Levigated alumina 47%, Powdered soap 20%,

Water 33%.

When the preferred constituents are properly combined in the mannerabove described and in the proportions last referred to, a comparativelypermanent emulsion having the consistency of a cream or paste isproduced. As we have intimated, the superfine levigated alumina and thevehicle employed seem especially adapted to produce such anemulsion-like mixture in which the abrasive is held for indefiniteperiods uniformly distributed in suspension in the cream-like body.

Obviously a composition having the consistency last referred to isadmirably adapted to be packed in and dispensed from collapsible metaltubes, and we prefer to use containers of this character because of theigreat convenience.

In the use of our improved dressing a small amount, say twice the volumeof a pea, is expelled from the tube or other contamer on the strop. Theuser can then readily spread the dressing evenly over the surfaces ofthe strop either with his wetted fingers or a mo1st cloth. Then, eitherimmediately or after waiting a few minutes until the water added to thepaste in order to facilitate spreading has evaporated,'the stropping ofthe razor can be proceeded-with in the ordinary manner. In the case of avery dull blade at considerable number of strokes may be required tosecure athoroughly sharp good 7 condition needs only a few strokes to sarpen it perfectly. It will be understood that our dressing is appliedto but one surface of the strop and that the sharpening operation can ifdesired be completed on another, finishing surface in the usual manner.

When our improved dressing has been apphed to a strop in the mannerdescribed, the strop can be used effectively for ten or twelve days andthen if the best results are to be secured, the surface of the stropshould be cleaned and renewed with a fresh application of the dressing.As far as we are emulsion which is soluble in water.

"reason of its consistency and solubility the aware, the abrasivedressings which have heretofore been proposed have been exceedinglyunsatisfactory in this connection. In fact, we are of the opinion thatthe abrasive dressin s heretofore proposed have been unsuccessf iil inpractice because of the difiicultyin some cases, of applying thedressing to the strop, and in other cases, of removing the dressing andsecurin a clean strop surface prior to a fresh application of thedressing. In the case of our improved dressing these difficulties havebeen entirely overcome by the rovision of a vehicle for the abrasive intie form of a permaneit fresh dressing can be easily applied and the olddressing can be removed very quickly and with the greatest ease by meansof a wet sponge, cloth or the like, and thereupon a fresh dressing canbe applied in the manner above described. A strop which is treated inthe manner indicated may, by periodicallyrenewing our improved dressmg,be kept indefinitelyin highly effective condition, no difficulty beingexperienced from the accumulation of a gummy coating on the strop whichis characteristic of dressing employing oily or greasy substances as avehicle forthe a rasive.

It is clear that we have not only provided a dressing adapted to renderthe strop an effective sharpening agent but also that none of theconstituent materials of the dressing are 'of a nature to injure eitherthe strop or the steel of the razor or instrument blade. It will alsobeseen' that the dressing is harmless 1f the dressing should be mistakenfor tooth paste, cold cream, or the like, and inadvertently taken intothe mouth or applied to the skin. Furthermore, the dresslng is readilywashed from the skin, as when the user spreads it on a strop with hisfingers, and its use is both convenient and pleasant in this respect.

We are aware that preparations comprising a mixture of soap and powderedabrasive have heretofore been proposed, but we do not know of anyproposal to so use levigated or finely divided alumina. Nor do We knowof any proposal to use a preparation of finely divided abrasive, soapand water in proportions to form a relatively permanent emulsion havingthe consistency of a cream or paste; indeed, we have tried withoutsuccess to 'repare such emulsions with abrasives ot er than levigatedalumina. Thus, in the case of finely pow.- dered carborundum, we findthat the abrasive in less than an hour separates from the soap and waterand settles to the bottom of the container, whereas with levigatedalumnia we have produced emulsions that stand without substantialseparation for months at a time. We accordmgly beheve that we are thefirst to utilize levigated alumina in a preparation of the character inquestion and the first to produce such a preparation in the form of arelatively permanent emulsion of abrasive, soap and water. By arelatively permanent emulsion we mean one that will stand for Weeks at atime Without substantial separation of the constituents. I

The relative permanency of our emulsion is important because it obviatesserious difficulties that would otherwise arise, both in the manufactureand the distribution and use of the strop dressing. That is to say, ifthe constituents were to separate materially in' an hour or less, as inthe case of carborundum'above referred to, it would be very difiicult tomaintain a uniform composition during any commercially practical processof manufacturing the product and charging it into the containers.Furthermore, a rapid and easy separation of the constituents wouldresult, while the product Was on the shelf of the distributer or of theuser, in the depositing and caking of the'finely divided abrasive on theWall of the container so that it would be practically impossible torestore the emulsion by shaking. In the case of our improved stropdressing, when the constituents are prop erly proportioned, the emulsionmixture is so persistent that these difficulties are obviated.

While in the foregoing description we have set forth in detall thepreferred method of preparing our strop dressing and the preferredproportions of the ingredients, it should be understood that we do notintend to limit our invention in these 1 respects except as defined inthe appended claims.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. An abrasive stropdressing consisting of a relatively permanentemulsion of levigated alumina, soap and Water.

2. An abrasive strop dressing consisting of levigated alumina, soap andwater in the'following proportions by weight: levigated alumina thirtytofifty per cent., soap ten to twenty-five per cent, water thirty tofifty-five per cent, the said substances being intimately mixed to forma paste.

3. An abrasive strop dressing consisting of levigated alumina, soap andwater in substantially the following proportions by weight: levigatedalumina fortysevenper cent, powdered soap twenty per cent, waterthirty-three per cent, the said substances being. intimately mixed toform a paste.

We hereby assert that the above is a full and accurate description ofour invention and in testimony whereof we have aflixed our signatures 1nthe presence of two w1tnesses.

L. G. WESSON. ZAY JEFFRIES. Witnesses:

' -J. BURNS READ,

THEODORE H. BARRE'I'I.

